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The city of Columbus plans to split up its power and water departments and appoint a leader who
can expand its electricity operation.

Less than a year after the city was talking about selling its nearly broke power division,
Public Utilities Director Greg Davies said he is looking for a leader who can add to the city’s
13,000 customers and shepherd new street-lighting projects.

The City Council, which heard the plan for the first time at its meeting tonight, is expected
to approve the separation and the new power-boss position at its next meeting, on Dec. 3.

“I know this might seem strange to the public because we just combined the division in 2006,
but we feel this is the best thing to do because the power division has more financial strength
now,” Davies said.

The divisions originally were combined because city officials said it would improve
efficiency and save money.

As of late, the power division has had some big wins, jump-started by Davies and his staff
negotiating a lower rate for power with American Electric Power, saving the city about $6 million
through May 2014.

Davies then spurned AEP to contract with American Municipal Power to buy power when the
agreement with AEP expires.

The contract with American Municipal is good through 2016 and will save the city $6 million.
The city spends about $60 million a year on buying power.

The savings in the two contracts has given the power division a 10-year financial outlook
that’s in the black. That’s a far cry from just two years ago: The division started 2011 with a
cash balance of $937 and struggled to stay out of red ink for much of the past decade.

Mayor Michael B. Coleman and Davies said their hopes are for the division’s new leader to
attract large commercial customers. They said the city plans to try to take some of those customers
away from AEP.

Davies said the city can highlight its quick repair times compared with other utilities.

Coleman also has instructed Davies to think of incentives that the city can provide to
businesses to increase its customer base, such as breaks on rates for job growth.

“We are just trying to ride the momentum we’ve built so far,” Davies said. “I think it was
known that the (power) staff, after the consolidation, felt kind of like second class, and so we
want to have them on their own again because the financial strength has improved.”

Davies said he probably will name a leader of the power division in January.

In other council business tonight, about $860,000 will be spent to demolish and rehab
blighted properties on the city’s Near East Side and South Side. The money is part of the federal
government’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program and is from the sale of blighted lots that the city
has addressed in the past few years.

“This is recycled NSP money we are using to help some of the areas that need it the most,”
Councilman Zach Klein said.

The city will contract with Community Development for All People, Habitat for Humanity and
the King-Lincoln District through the Columbus Housing Partnership to demolish and renovate
properties.